Ironman Mont-Tremblant Village as seen from the Mont-Tremblant Village gondola

On June 19th, 2011, I wrote:

Each time Matt and I track our friends at Florida or Cozumel, we marvel at the bike splits. Flat bike course means potential for some amazing times (and, of course, potential for wind and leg fatigue, but still, the times tend to be faster than on the hilly courses). For a weak cyclist like myself, the thought of actually maybe seeing a 17mph average bike split is appealing. For a super strong cyclist like Matt, who knows what he could bust out. So even though we aren't really, really excited by the prospect of a Florida or Cozumel, they keep coming up as potentials when we're thinking about What's Next.

We decided on Cozumel 2012. That was the next Ironman. It'd be hot, it'd probably be windy, but it'd be flat and different from what we've done before. So that was settled.

Then WTC announced a new race: Ironman Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. I looked at the pictures. Matt looked at the pictures. We looked at each other. We were smitten. We were sold. In seconds, our 2012 plans changed entirely.

As you can see from the picture above, Mont-Tremblant is beautiful, and the finish line chute went down those quaint little roads, lined with cheering spectators. But you'll have to wait a bit to read about that part..

Some background, for those who either don't know me or don't know Ironman. An Ironman-distance triathlon is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a marathon (26.2 mile run) back to back. You start at 7am and must cross the finish line by midnight of that same day. This would be my fifth Ironman. If you'd like to read my previous Ironman race reports, Coeur d'Alene 2007 is here, Lake Placid 2008 is here, Coeur d'Alene 2010 is here and New Zealand 2011 is here. I do not write short race reports. I will not be offended if you find them too long to be enjoyable and don't read them or this one.

Click here to begin..